Claimed | Second Love Romance ✔️

19| Weddings

Chapter 19

Alessio

Two calls, and one scheduled visit, with the addition of some heavy paperwork, made Alice and me homeowners in three short weeks. The slight look through the window was not enough for us to see the magnitude of how great the house truly was. The master bedroom was big enough that Aria could ride her new bike around it.

And Aria's room was what she described as straight out of a Disney movie-whatever that means. The home was still empty, much to my dismay, due to what Alice called small changes that needed to be made. Small changes like painting most of the bedrooms and ordering custom furniture handcrafted from certain crafters overseas that she stated were geniuses.

A supposedly quick move turned us into having to wait an extra week, which meant staying in her mother's home with boxes upon boxes surrounding us as we slept every night. A small bump in the road until I can't find my suit that has been packed.

Alice sits on the bed, with an iPad and notepad in her lap, checking off things one by one for the move.

"So tomorrow morning at six. The mover guys are coming in to take all the boxes out of the house. Then the delivery men will be there at nine to drop off the furniture, and hopefully, by tomorrow night or morning, we'll be all settled in," Alice says with a smile.

I let out a breath. "I'm glad. I think I would go crazy if you asked me what color I wanted one more time." I've picked out or had a say in every single color or design of the home, and frankly, I am sick of staring at couches, pictures, beds, and whatever else goes into a house. I appreciate the gesture of giving me a choice. But, so many are very overwhelming.

I wish she were more like Aria, only asking for my card information on things she wanted, not my opinion. She lightly pushes my shoulder, "so how does it feel? Us shacking up together again with Charlie and now Aria?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Shacking up? I would hardly call us shacking up."

She holds up her ring. "Well, we are unmarried."

I kiss her ring. "Engaged...soon to be married," I correct her. "We were planning a wedding, and then someone wanted to buy a house in the middle of the night."

"Yeah, you are right," she trails on. Before our last-minute decision to buy a house, she was elated, going dress shopping and picking out photographers. I bet if we didn't get a place, we would be walking down the aisle sooner rather than later. She moves closer to me, staring me in the eyes, her body only a breath away from me.

"I'm going to suggest something that will piss off my mom to no end," she adds.

I cock my eyebrow. "Okay, and what would that be?"

I can't imagine anything else that will piss her off. Her mom almost had a heart attack when we said we were moving out-especially in our six-bedroom home she called a hovel. She told her multi-million dollar heiress of a daughter needed to live somewhere with at least ten bedrooms and a slew of housekeepers. And after some convincing, Alice and her mother decided that the home was just fine and a better security system must be installed, something I agreed with.

If Alice, a 5'3 woman with no background in crime, could break in, some person who has even a small amount of criminal background could break in with no problem. She clears her throat, "we've done a lot of stuff out of order."

"I know. A lot was going on. Things that sidetracked us left and right. Like taking in a twelve-year-old."

She nods her head, "like taking in a twelve-year-old," she agrees. "Which, by the way, we need to adopt soon before we can enroll her in school legally, I found out."